Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.

The Perceived Value of Academic Skills

Educational institutions value academic performance. General education programs primarily define skills as a set of academic competencies, which form the mainstay of the school curriculum. First and foremost, schools are responsible for teaching the basics: reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Students' grades reflect some level of skill attainments in the subject, verbal and mathematics skills, as measured on standardized tests, are the major determinant of college enrollment. As mentioned earlier, the trend since 1983 is to increase academic coursetaking requirements en route to high school graduation (Jennings, 1996).

For their part, employers seem less concerned about academic performance. In the last decade, employers and industry groups have been instrumental in redefining skills to meet the technological, managerial, and competitive demands of the workplace, as seen in the SCANS report and industry-based standard setting efforts.

Perhaps most telling are the results of a 1994 national survey which asked employers to rank a number of characteristics or attributes as critical to their hiring decisions (NCEQW, 1995). The results show that employers tend to downplay school-based factors when making these decisions. These school factors--years of schooling, grades, school reputation, and teacher recommendation--are primarily indicators of academic skills. Rather, decisions are based on an applicant's attitude and communication skills, determined through interviews, applications, and previous employers' recommendations (see Table 2.1).[8] These characteristics are indicative of worker attitudes and perhaps work competencies, not academics.

A second administration of the survey in 1997[10] yielded essentially the same findings, suggesting that this disconnection between the education and employer communities persists over time. The similarity is especially striking given the different economic conditions of 1997 as compared to 1994. During the relatively loose labor market of the early 1990s and the substantially tighter labor market of the end of the decade, employers continue to say that they minimize the importance of schooling factors when hiring youth (Shapiro & Goertz, 1998).

The literature suggests that educators and employers may place different value on academic skills. These values affect curriculum decisionmaking in schools, and they affect employers' views about schooling (Stevenson, 1996).

[8]The telephone survey in August and September 1994 was administered to more than 4,000 private manufacturing and non-manufacturing establishments, oversampling establishments in the manufacturing sector and those with over 100 employees. It included fields where credentials are important such as health services, construction, finance, and insurance.

[9]The results are from Question 57: When you consider hiring a new, nonsupervisory, or production worker (front-line worker), how important are the following in your decision to hire?

[10]The second administration of National Employer Survey (NES) added new questions to gauge the links between school and work and oversampled in five states where standards-based reforms included more rigorous academics.

Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.